Alarm for table articles.



No. 781,846. PATENTED FEB. 7, 1905. J. E. NEAHR.

ALARM FOR TABLE ARTICLES.

APPLICATION IILBD APR. '1, 190a.

Zbfiwesaea: i C ,fnvezzan' MZM Z 6 WM W) w/l/mzamg Patented February 7, 1905,

ATENT Fines.

JACOB E. NEAHR, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

ALARM FOR TABLE ARTICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 781,846, dated February '7, 1905.

i 7 Application filed April '7, 1903. Serial No. 151,516.

Be it known that LJACOB E. Nuanma citizen of the United States, and a resident of Boston, Suffolk county. il'lassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Alarms for Table Articles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to table articles such as match-reccptacles, call-bells, and the like and comprises a device of this kind provided with an automatic alarm arranged to ring when the device is lifted from the table and to cease ringing when the device is again restored to the table or support, so as to rest upon its base.

Much inconvenience and loss is caused to proprietors of restaurants and public resorts by the loss of table articles, which are carried away as souvenirs.

The object of this invention is to overcome or lessen this ditliculty by providing this class of articles with an alarm which shall ring automatically when the device is lifted from the table. The principle is applicable to a great variety of table articles, and any such article equipped with this invention may serve also the purpose of a call-bell.

The invention obviously is capable of embodiment in a great variety of forms, and in the accompanying drawings l have shown one of the simplest forms in which the invention may be applied to a match-safe or similar article.

In the drawings. Figure l is a bottom plan view of a match-receptacle with the alarm applied to its base. Fig. 2 is a side elevation partly in section. Fig. 3 is a detail view illustrating some of the details of construction of the alarm.

The article which I have herein chosen to illustrate in connection with this invcntionnamely. a match-safe is formed with any suitable base 14 to rest upon the table or other support, the bottom thereof in this instance being hollow or concaved to receive a small alarm-bell I), which may be of any suitable construction. This alarm-bell may comprise generally a vibratory striker 7/, actuated by a rotating ratchet-wheel I)", driven from a gear trolled arbor 7;. The striker b is actuated from any suitable connection or escapemcnt, as illustrated at 1/. All of these details may be changed at will, as any suitable form of alarm-bell movement may be employed for this purpose. The alarm is secured to the lower or concave side of the base and is provided on its bottom with a spring-detcnt c, which when pressed upward presents its free end in the path of an upwardly-projecting pin 0, secured to the vibratory striker or hammer. The spring-detent is set or bent so that its normal position leaves its free. end clear of the to-and-fro movement of the pin 1)", as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2. The spring-detent, however. is so arranged that in its normal position it projects slightly below the plane of thelowermost portion of the base which comes in contact with the table or other support upon which the article rests, so that when the article is placed upon the table or level surface the detent 0 will be pressed upward, so that its outer or free end will engage the stop-pin 0" to prevent the vibration of the hammer. Of course it will be understood that the stop-pin can be secured to any suitable part of the actuating mechanism which drives the striker as well as to the striker itself.

will be readily understood, the lifting of the device from the table or even the raising of one edge thereof from the table will permit the spring-detent w to spring upward into its normal position clear of the stop-pin l), thus allowingthehanunerorstriker tovibrate until the detent is once more brought into action.

\Yhile l have hereinshown theinvention as applied to a meellanically-operatedalarm, it is obvious that the same principle is applicable to other forms of alarm, such as electric alarms and the like.

\Vithout attempting to set forth all the changes in form, construction, and arrangement that may be made in the practice of my invention or the various uses to which it may be applied, what I claim is l. A table article having a base provided with an rdarm-bell, mechanism for actuating said alarm-bell, means arranged to arrest the movement of the alarm when the article rests or pinion l)", which is secured to a spring-conl upon its base and to release the alarm when the article is raised from its support, substantially as described.

2. A table article provided with a gong or bell, a striker, means for actuating said striker to ring the bell, a detent having contact with the table which supports the base and arranged to arrest the movement of the striker while the article rests uponits base and to release the striker when the base is raised from its support, substantially as described.

3. An article of the class described, embracing in its construction a base formed with a recess in its lower side, an automatic alarm arranged in said recess, a spring-detent arranged so that its normal tension keeps it free from engagement with the alarm mechanism,

said detent being pressed normally upward into engagement with the alarm when the ar- In witness whereof I have hereunto set my 3 hand this 31st day of March, 1903.

JACOB E. NEAHR.

In presence of G120. N. GODDARD, KATHARINE A. DUGAN. 

